Street Fighter Camaro Press

[JohnnyGMachine]

Well, it's almost here!! DCX did a great preview write up for us on the Street Fighter 1968 Camaro PT diecast. I'm working closely with our PR guy here and the editor of DCX and I'd love to mention pro-touring.com in a possible upcoming full article as the inspiration for this whole project. This project has been a blast and if it sells well we're only gonna raise the bar on the next one.

-John

[paulk68]

I can not wait for that to go on sale. I love that it is a 68 we need to get a little more respect in the toy market. Cuz after all it is the best looking camaro ever. :yeah:
paul

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Awesome, John! Keep us updated on the status of that bad boy.

[Steve Chryssos]

John,
You've got the best job in the whole world. :icon996:

[Rick Dorion]

Looks great. As was mentioned in a past thread, there are some other cool candidates - Big Red, Thrasher, etc. Hope to see more. I'm putting up more shelves for my GMP's!

[Steve1968LS2]

John,
You've got the best job in the whole world. :icon996:

Ain't that the truth.. I can't wait to add this to my collection :)


<--- needs more shelving in office

[kmracer]

Looks great. As was mentioned in a past thread, there are some other cool candidates - Big Red, Thrasher, etc. Hope to see more. I'm putting up more shelves for my GMP's!
the mule!!!! :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :hail: :worship: :bananna2: :worship: :cool: :bananna2: :firefire:

[Conekiller13]

If it's called "StreetFighter" shouldn't You offer a gold w/black stripe option?

[JohnnyGMachine]

black and gold stripe option?...I bet steve would like that! I am giving Steve a "special thanks" credit on the packaging with a web address printed too (with Steve's permission first of course!) as well as this site and a huge thanks to Larry too!

I would give anything to be able to do the Mule and Big Red. But considering it's about $200,000 to tool an all new diecast car that's pretty expensive to only be able to get 1 or 2 at the most versions from the tooling. Hey, ya never know what we at GMP could do though!

We just really wanted to create a really cool fantasy PT car and do the pro-touring theme justice, even try to educate a little because we all know how loosely the PT term has been used by those who do not unerstand what pro-touring really IS. I greatly appreciate all the help and feedback everybody has given me on this site about this project and even on a few of my design projects and renderings as well

Thanks guys,
John

[JohnnyGMachine]

OK guys, I can't show you too much yet but the first tooled assembled sample (undecorated) is on it's way here for me to review. Final tool polishing and prep are being completed now and I should have a painted sample in a couple weeks. All I can tell you is that this is gonna be awesome. I'm so syked!

I can't show much of it yet but I'll leave you withthis one engine shot showing off the modern ignition and duel throttle body intake. This is only an early tooled sample so it is still a little too early for decoration and final tweaks. Enjoy.

-John

[B Cichocki]

Too Cool! :bananna2: I know where a couple of my Benjamins will be headed pretty soon. :smoke:
-Brian

[Charley Lillard]

It has a crossram hood.

[mdprovee]

That is pretty cool John.

Mike

[JohnnyGMachine]

There's still some fine tuning needed on the model before it's ready. The cross ram under hood structure won't be there. I'd love to show the full 3/4 view shots I have of it but since there's still "tuning" needed I'd like to wait before I show anything. I'm also waiting to show more on it because I think it will have more of an impact with the correct decoration on it - paint and chrome. I think the pro-touring die hards will like it.

[paulk68]

Man i am pretty excited about that thing. any idea on how much it is going to be i am assuming close to the other high end ones. Just currious so i know how much to start saving. Also i really hope the side mirrors look good they always seem to be an issue it must be hard to get them scaled to look right.
paul

[JohnnyGMachine]

The model retails for $109 I beleive, same cost as our T/A Camaros. Also included in the package will be a billet specialties sticker and wheel brochure. I'm starting the box art design probably friday. I've been wanting to do something like this since I was back at Mattel. I finally get to do a PT style car and something aggresive.

John

[ssx]

Great looking car. As soon as it is available I guess I'm spending some cash!

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Wow, looks awesome, Jonn! I'll definitely be buying one of these!

[JohnnyGMachine]

I had an idea for maybe the next PT diecast car we do Ralph, I'd like to run this by Larry too. What we would do for the second PT car is we'd do a run of 1000 pcs and at the end of the production run we could do like 15-20 extra cars done in another color special for the pro-touring.com site. We even have a guy who does custom tampo paint printing and he could possibly put the PT logo and name on the windshield or back window of the car. Think that'd be kinda cool.
I don't know just a thought.

John

[Rick Dorion]

Make it a 69, John!

[Blitz]

It's a small world. I just saw on GMP's site that they were building this car about 3 days ago, then came on here and saw this thread. I was looking for some pics on the internet for about an hour too. In the past, I had considered writing them and suggesting a PT car, but figured it would just be tossed aside. I've seen the teaser pics and things look pretty good. One thing I hope is done right, that is normally overlooked, is the stance and the detail of the wheels. Crossing my fingers on that one. I have so many ideas on stuff like this. I post on a good sized diecast related forum and we Love releases like this.
ps. I used to know a John McBride when I lived in Atlanta.

[JohnnyGMachine]

If you could read the emails going back and forth from me and the product development/engineering manager at Hong Kong you'd see how picky I was about these particular wheels. I've been working closely with Scott Sandoval at Billet Specialties on this project since we met at the street rod nats in Kentucky. Since I met him - he and the guys at Billet Specialties have been absolutely awesome to work with. He actually sent me a front wheel (18x8) and a rear wheel (18x10) to take photos of and measure. I must've taken about 60-70 photos of just the wheels for this project. I have about 20 pics of the matching Steering wheel too. The wheels and steering wheel will be accurately detailed right down to the machined texture in the spokes! Our guys in the HK factory did a fantastic job with the wheels and actually was their suggestion to get the texture right on the spokes leaving the actual CNC machined cuts in just the spokes and polishing the rest of the wheel tool to get it as close to looking like the real wheel as possible. It took 3 passes to get the wheels right and 2 passes to get the matching machined texture in the steering wheel right. I am one of those guys that is supremely picky about wheels, stance and even the right style of wheel for a particular car. I guess maybe I'm a "wheel freak"? LOL!
Anyways, there's been a lot of hard work put in this and trying to add as many new custom features as possible to make it unique was the basic idea behind this model from the beginning. I'll stop yapping and get back to work now but as soon as I get the first painted and chromed sample It'll be posted here first.

Thanks,
John

[Blitz]

Yapping...naaa. Trust me, I've seen alot of cars that were built with "good intentions", but just like a 1:1, the wheels and stance can make or break you. I suppose with manufacturer's paying greater attention to detail, and the serious collectors demanding a better product, the hobby was bound to finally move in this direction. It's funny because as a "nobody-little-guy-collector", I've written companies about doing either custom parts for cars or custom cars and have received little or no positive feedback. It's good to see that it's happening anyway though. Oddly enough, just after seeing the announcement on the Street Fighter, I signed up for GMP's online newsletter. It was like they're reading my mind or something. John, I'd like to pick your brain on some of this stuff if that's possible. I was impressed with my last two GMP Camaro's (Smokey Yunich was my favorite by far) and it doesn't look like they'll let me down this next time either.

[JohnnyGMachine]

No problem, we've already covered the customer service area here months ago and made customer service a priority. We WANT to hear your ideas. Why wouldn't we listen to the collector, you're the ones buyin' the stuff. There's been occassions where I had a collector call me for help and he ended up helpin me out with something. Ben, Kevin and myself are the product development team and we've helped guys (and gals) out with anything from how remove a wheel to getting a replacement part that broke on their model. I think I helped Rick D out with that. We don't have a ton of spare parts lying around but sometimes we can help with that.

Anyways, whether you call or email we listen and encourage collector/customer input.

You know, if everybody in here called or emailed saying they want us to build the Mule - it could possibly happen - with Mark's and Charlie's permission of course! LOL!
Thanks,
-John

[email protected]
GMP 770-868-1042

[David Pozzi]

John, I have a whole bunch of the GMP Lola T-70 models! :secret:
Good stuff! :seizure:

[Larry Callahan]

Any chance of Big Red being copied?

[JohnnyGMachine]

you know what Larry, I have a Big Red file in the "I WANNA DOs" folder in my desk drawer at work. When I first saw Big Red at SEMA I got goosebumps. It looked great. I was able to video tape it. The PR guy at GMP - Jeff, he's been like a spearhead for the PT Camaro diecast and getting our pro-touring stuff as much exposure as it has. He likes it a lot because the pro-touring style is fresh and appeals to a broader range of age groups. That also helps us with getting younger guys collecting. Doing cars like Big Red and Mule would probably blow me away if we ever did them. I've done my best to not only design but educate what protouring is to the group here at GMP. Tom the owner is a hug Chevy guy and is very excited about the Street Fighter. If those things sell out as fast as I think they will maybe it'll raise an eyebrow and get the guys all thnking about getting more serious about doing some real-life PT cars as well as fantasy stuff.

I'm with ya Larry.

-John

[Rick Dorion]

John indeed did help me out with some parts. I've been collecting all the Mark Donahue models and trans-am cars. They're fantastic. If a Mule, Big Red , etc. comes out, I'd buy them in a heartbeat.

[Blitz]

Haven't seen "Big Red" that you guys keep mentioning, but was thinking for the possible Limited Edition Pro-touring.com version, you could do the graphite/charcoal grey color that's in the logo along with Hyper-Silver or slightly darker Kinesis type wheels (sort of an Updated, larger diameter T/A style wheel). Also, don't know if GMP is still doing colaborations (sp), like with the Welly/GMP trans am Mustangs, but you could maybe consider that the source of other muscle car bodies. A couple large competitors come to mind in particular. Lastly, there's a very Popular movie Mustang of recent years that has been constantly requested in the diecast forums....problem is who will be the first to profit from it's production.https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/images/smilies/naughty.gif

[chevelleman]

First off this is going to be a kick a** diecast! I also like the idea of doing the mustang and maybe even a GNX or even doing a run using your 68 Nova.
Any chance we will see those wheels offered in sets like GMP did with the Cragars and Nova SS wheel.

[Blitz]

Chevelleman, I was thinking the same thing. I would hope that extra wheels wouldn't even be a question. Maybe even extra parts like seats and engine also. Hmmm. Build your own pro touring diecast?

[chevelleman]

Yeah I have a few ertl 69 Camaro's and chevelles waiting for a set of those wheels!!!

[JohnnyGMachine]

GMP will definitely not disappoint when it comes to the wheel sets! A lot of the suggestions you guys are making are already in the works. No details allowed yet but we've been keeping a finger on the PT pulse for sure.
As far as the movie Mustang you're talking about, that wouldn't be Eleanor would it? LOL! I would pay an exuburant amount of money for a NICE 1:18 Eleanor. I don't think I'd even care how much it would cost, I just want one but I want it done right. We are producing tooling for all 67-68 Mustangs currently in 1:24 scale. As to whether we would do an Eleanor car it's not in the immediate plans. I have brought it up though. Rumors have it that somebody is going to produce it. I don't think I even want to know how much the royalties would even be on something like that...You'd have to pay Ford, Shelby, the movie company, and Mrs. Halicky. There's atleast 4 royalties! OUCH!
Larry and I had talked very breifly about a couple ideas for a GMP diecast.
Once I have a sample to send you Larry we'll talk! :-)

[Blitz]

https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif Yeah, Eleanor would be the one. Did some research though after posting and found out that there IS a rumor about it being made by someone, BUT there's also an ongoing lawsuit between Mrs. Halicky and Shelby over the rights to use the name...plus like you said the royalties would be crazy. Ya never know though. In the meantime though, I'll take all the other PT diecast I can.

[JohnnyGMachine]

Well, I'm so excited I couldn't hold out so I'm posted some clean pics I shot of the tooling sample that showed up this morning. Again, keep in mind this is very early production and I have yet to comment on the few little details that need to be addresses such as the removal of the under hood cross ram panel, the real metal wheel studs have not been added yet and some of the tooling still needs to be slightly massaged for fit and finish. I just wanted to get you guys in the loop on this since this site has been the inspiration from day one. Also, thanks again Larry for allowing me to post up pics of the model, I'll make sure that a couple production Street Fighters find their way onto a UPS truck to your door-LOL!
Now I'm waiting anxiously for the first painted sample to show up, I think it's gonna look amazing.

Enjoy,
John

[JohnnyGMachine]

Here's some of the details....I threw a set of metal studs in one of the wheels and shot it. Should make a big difference. I also included a shot of the steering wheel which matches the wheels.

[Steve Chryssos]

It has cross drilled rotors. Good.

[paulk68]

I would have left off the door handles and side view mirrors. They never look right to me. I think it would have looked slick if they took those off and filled them in.
Paul

[Blitz]

OMG! I'm going to need a towel. Even in it's current state I'm impressed. The shifter boot is my only issue. I'm not sure who's more excited John, me or you. Keep up the excellent work. https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/images/smilies/icon996.gif

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Looks GREAT, John!! I can't wait to see a painted version.

[Larry Callahan]

These are gonna be sweet!!! I'm saving a shelf in my office for them once they are released.

[zbugger]

Heh... How many people can't wait for a painted version? Hell, I can't wait for one in my HANDS!!!!

[Robluvcars]

Great looking Car! I will buy it! Can you offer a version of it in white? Also for your next car, please take a version of your 5.0 mustang (I have a few of the gmp cars, including the porkchop mustang, torco trans am camaro, yunick camaro, donahue camaro, gnx, 70 gto, etc. and more in my collection) and would love to see a 1985 mustang Gt or 93 Cobra done in a protour type car. I actually modify diecast cars for fun, and have a gmp turbo regal (the red one) that I plan on modifying one day with bigger wheels and lowered suspension. I am curious as to if gmp will also sell other parts such as the "MSD" box, and other parts. Looking forward to getting the 68 camaro when its released.


P.S. Thanks Blitz!!! CYA over at the DX forum. Think these guys would be interested in some of the cars at the forum? Ive got a couple of cars that come to mind...

[wickedmotorhead]

WOW that is sweet love it...cant wait to get one. Chevelle next please :fingersx:

[JohnnyGMachine]

....WICKEDMOTORHEAD - the quote you have listed below your avatar is awesome. Don't know why I just noticed it LOL!

As far as future PT possibilities we're already looking at a couple of our cars. We have a super nice Fairlane that's already got optional lowered suspension parts and the PT Camaro wheels and tires would look good on there. As far as a 93 Cobra...just wait until this summer - oh boy. The fox body Mustang guys are going to be rewarded with some all new stuff! If you join Tom's Garage you can see the sneak peaks of a lot of our upcoming stuff!
Robluvcars, you know that's a great idea for adding the MSD stuff in a pack. We could do a pack that includes - wheels, tires, MSD coil and box, fuel filter and pump, braided fuel lines, and nitrous tanks and solenoids. Now that would be cool. See we like hearing any and all input - we get a lot of good ideas and suggestions from collectors and car guys. Sometimes stuff we wished we thought of!

-John

[Blitz]

John, if you're looking for input then you will probably get more than enough from Robluvcars and myself. I have alot of creativity, just can't draw to express it. hahaha. Here's another thought of potential PT cars: since you have the Nova, how about the Goodmark Nova? You've got the body, basically the wheel style, now you just need to add the flame job and some of the other details. And as silly as I thought it was when Ertl did it, you can keep giving us repaints of the Street Fighter, maybe changing one thing here or there (Rally Wheels, RS grill)https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/images/smilies/angel.gif. Adding to the "PT transformation pack"- modern Racing seats, small diameter steering wheel, gauges. All thoughts. My Smokey Yunick sits on my computer desk, and I'm pretty sure it'll get the Smokey "street clone" treatment once the wheel sets come out. I can finally quit buying a complete car to rob it for parts. 'cept for that Z06 engine swap idea. https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/images/smilies/naughty.gif

Rob- Good luck on the PT Regal (I had the same idea). And YES the guys over at DX would love the Street Fighter. I had an idea of how to show it to them too (PM for details).

John- With your permission (and help-can't link the pics from here), I'd like to show all my diecast forum friends this car. I'll be sure to mention you and it's inspiration along with it. I also had ideas and brain picking to do.https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/images/smilies/fingersx.gif

[Conekiller13]

[QUOTE=JohnnyGMachine............... See we like hearing any and all input - we get a lot of good ideas and suggestions from collectors and car guys. Sometimes stuff we wished we thought of!

-John[/QUOTE]


So don't forget to throw some love to Us A-body guys :jump:

[JohnnyGMachine]

Hey Blitz and Rob,

If you guys would like to post any pics on the DX forum email me at my work and I can send you a pic or 2. I just wanted the PT site to get the first sneak peaks of it. I will post the 1st painted samples here as well once they arrive from China. Thanks.

[email protected]

[Blitz]

Thanks John, I can do that. As excited as I was(am), I wanted to respect the fact that you may not want too many folks to know too much just yet. I hope I get to at least see the painted pics before I leave for Japan. https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/images/smilies/fingersx.gif

[Robluvcars]

Blitz- Good ideas!
John-Thanks for listening. After I purchased the GNX, I think back in 97(?), GMP had a survey (or I sent a letter...I cant remember for sure) for ideas on cars that collectors wanted to see, and though there was no feedback, the 60's TransAm Camaros, Nova, 5.0 Mustang, and '67 Fairlane were on my list. So maybe someone did listen, or a lot of guys had the same ideas. You mentioned a Fairlane, could this project have been inspired by the car in PHR mag a few months ago? And I'll check out Toms Garage. Myself or Blitz will be in touch.

[JohnnyGMachine]

The GMP Fairlane is literally a GREAT model. It has set the standards for detail in 1:18 scale diecast cars. We've got almost an entirely new group of guys in the GMP lineup - from sales to development - even our general manager. We're a team and we're all fired up about doing some incredible diecast, and doing it right.
The Fairlane is an excellent candidate to start with for the following reasons -
- Good looks, lots of detail, wide appeal in the diecast crowd.

The other thing that I noticed while looking at the car is that it's got some wheel wells that make enough room for a substantial set of "hides" to wrap around a nice set of 17" or 18" hoops. Since we did the "Pork Chop" hot rod we also have dropped front spindles already tooled. The rear springs can be easily de-arched to lower the rear to get that killer stance.

As far as the Nascar-style Fairlane in PHR - YES it did inspire me to take a hard look at our Fairlane. I love that yellow PT Fairlane, it's insanely cool!!! Although we couldn't get our model to be as heavily modified as that, we sure could come up with one that would make a mind blowing PT car for sure. Matter of fact I've been sketching a few ideas for possibley doing one.

This may also work for another idea I have, working with the PT.com board and actually letting the PT.com members vote on and aid in the development and design of the next PT diecast from GMP. How about that for listening?

Stay tuned!

John

[Blitz]

"...working with the PT.com board and actually letting the PT.com members vote on and aid in the development and design of the next PT diecast from GMP. How about that for listening?"

Dun Dun Dun!!! (riveting climax music) Time to break out my "diecast project lists". John, I like your forward thinking. You think like a serious collector/enthusiast. Will it be a current tooling or new tooling?

[JohnnyGMachine]

well honestly...looking at what tooling we have coming down the pike, could be something from new tooling along with existing tooling. You guys will just have to stay tuned! :-)

John